Of all the things I love about The Wheel of Time, it wasn’t until my most recent reread of the series that I truly noticed the striking geology of Robert Jordan’s world, and how it’s incorporated into the storytelling. I first read the books when I was in middle school, but I have a different outlook now, twelve years later and in the middle of completing a Ph.D. in geology. An eye trained by observing faults and erosion, so accustomed to reading the clues and histories hidden in the features of the Earth, can’t help but conceive a new appreciation for how Jordan constructed his fictional setting, weaving so much information, thought, and nuance into every detail.
Below, I’ll discuss three of the key features of the place we fans call Randland, and how they deepen our understanding of the world and its history from a geological perspective…